UNB Student Investment Fund Raises Bar with Best Investment Performance
University of New Brunswick Student Investment Fund (SIF) students ended 2009 with their best investment performance to date, to close at $2.4 million in funds under management.
The 2009 absolute performance for the Canadian balanced fund portfolio was 17.8 per cent, 91 basis points over the benchmark performance. This is the second year in a row that the students beat their benchmark by more than 50 basis points. They have had a total outperformance of 170 basis points over the past two years, the most volatile in the history of the Canadian capital markets since the 1950's.
Since its inception more than 11 years ago, the SIF program has exceeded all expectations by many measures of success. The student-managed fund peaked during the summer of 2008 before the financial crisis. The students have recouped the underperformance of the last year strictly from investment returns. The risk of student investments is mitigated by their requirement to operate within the parameters of NBIMC's investment policy statement and with careful oversight at many levels.
